A known bag machine is disclosed in German patent DE 66 09 637 U. In this prior art bag machine, the lack of a bag workpiece results in the associated strip section or label being automatically directed into a removal conveying section. The removal device in this case is controlled by a sensor element which senses on a cyclical basis the feed of a bag workpiece.
Formed on the application drum is a gripper which grips and clamps the forward portion of a label to be attached to the bag base. In this operation, a knife pushes the forward portion of the label into the gripper which then closes and clamps the forward portion of the label. The label is then conveyed by the application drum to be attached to the bag workpiece. If no bag workpiece is fed into position at this time, so that no label need have been conveyed by the application drum, the gripper is opened, and instead the supplied label is taken from underneath by a removal diverter which is slewed into position and which removes the label.
This method of removal has not proven successful in practice as the label to be removed is not positively engaged by the gripper in this area. As a result blockages can occur by loose labels in the area of the removal diverter, resulting in operational malfunctions.